Dreaming
by iRikeToWrite
Summary: The hustling streets of New York City. The year is 1985. In the midst of the large crowds of citizens as far as the eye can see, we look at the story of a homeless man and his gang of mutts; The Company. Find out the events that took place long before Sykes and Oliver.


**Hello, readers! This is my first fanfiction on Oliver and Company, so if I did anything wrong, don't be afraid to tell me! I accept any form of criticism!**

"Get back here, you thief!" the bakery owner shouted. Amidst the New York City crowd, there was a man dressed in a shaggy trench coat, blue plumber outfit, and a dark red shirt, pushing and shoving through the crowds. In his broken and ripped-up gloves, he held 3 loaves of bread. The owner started running at the man, and eventually got a hold of his coat.

He yanked the man and made him fall, in which he let out a gasp. The homeless person than rolled over so that he was on top of the bread. The bakery owner continued to punch and kick the man, screaming "Let go of it!" It created a scene, however no one jumped in. After the homeless guy didn't budge, the crowd eventually continued their day, due to it being rush-hour. The bakery owner gave the man one last kick to the face, and spoke "Whatever, it's probably already spoiled, rat." He then proceeded to spit at the homeless man and walked back to his store.

Unfortunately for the owner, when he got back to his bakery shop, he found a good amount of items gone from the shelves. The owner just stood there, shocked. Once he came to the realization of it, he ran back outside, only to find the man long gone. "YOU THEIF!" the man roared. He then started to stomp at the ground in anger, for he knew that he couldn't do anything.

.

.

.

The man cringed as he ran down the streets. That bakery owner really did a number on him. He got a nosebleed, but simply rubbed it on his sleeve. The blood continued to run, and decided to just ignore it. While it was just a nosebleed, it dribbled down his face and neck. His eye was black, and his cheek was swollen. He looked like a man who was just hit by a car. "C'mon, Fagin. You can make it" he told himself as he dealt with the pain and ran.

The area was empty, with barely anyone on the sidewalks. Fagin then turned and ran in an alley. He stopped at a certain point and sat down. After he was done panting from the run, he looked up at the empty alleyway. "Guys?" Fagin asked, to no one in particular.

Once Fagin was starting to think of the worst, he felt a small nudge on his leg. He turned around and sighed with relief. There, he saw his 6 dogs; Dodger, Francis, Rita, Einstein, Tito, and Deety, all with a piece of food in their mouths. Fagin smiled and started to pet all of them. As he was doing so, the 6 dogs stopped and looked at him, worry in their eyes. Fagin looked puzzled, but realized that it was because of his dried-up nosebleed. "Don't worry guys. It's just a little hit" he said, trying to calm down his gang of mutts.

At the end of the alley, there were 3 heavily ripped up beds. The stuffing was all over and they barely had cushioning. However, anything was better than the sidewalk. Fagin and his dogs all sat on it, and they ate the food they stole. While Fagin was gobbling up a piece of bread, he got up and grabbed a bucket. "I gottta' get water, guys. You stay here, okay?" he said while petting Einstein. He then left the alley.

"Man, we got a pretty good load, eh' gang?" Dodger said while eating a donut. Deety, who was a dark-brown Cocker Spaniel, replied "You know it, babe. All thanks to you" while nuzzling against Dodger. "Hehe, you know it, baby" Dodger flirted while licking Deety on the cheek. "Why you always gotta be so lovey-dovey, man? That stuff disgusting, man" Tito said while he was chewing on churro. "Oh please, Tito. Expressing love between one another is not gross in the slightest!" Francis added. Tito muttered under his breath "Says the dog with no chica." Francis scowled him, and continued on eating his share of food. Rita, finished with her piece of bread, spoke to Deety. "So Deety, how are the pups?" she asked warmly. Deety blushed, and Dodger spoke for her. "It's only been 2 weeks, guys. Don' go buggin' her now."

Deety and Dodger announced 2 weeks ago that they were having a family. While the Company was happy about the news, there were 2 problems that were thought about constantly. Firstly, with who-knows-how-many pups they were going to have, Fagin would have quite the amount of mutts to feed. Secondly, the pups would eventually have to learn about the streets; stealing, running away, all of it. With the latter one, however, everyone was worried except for Dodger.

Dodger went on and on about how he wanted to teach his kids how to become as "awesome" as he was. While Deety wasn't 100% on board with that, she let her foolish boyfriend have his fantasies. It was better than him panicking and/or regretting the decision about raising a family.

Fagin got back in the alley with a big bucket full of water. His legs were sore due to the running, and the bucket was extremely heavy. "I…got…the water" Fagin muttered as he desperately tried not to spill the huge bucket. Having to walk all the way back to the hose would be dreadful, as well as having to not get caught (the hose obviously wasn't his property).

Just as Fagin was about to reach the gang, he bent his ankle on a crack on the concrete. He was just about to fall face-first into the unforgiving floor. Thankfully, Einstein, being the strongest and biggest of the gang, came to his owner's rescue and helped him retain balance. Once Fagin placed the water-behemoth down, he pet Einstein's head thankfully. "What would I do without you, Einy?" Fagin said to him, in which Einstein licked his face.

However, when he tried to stand up again, Fagin found that his ankle was badly injured. While the Company looked in worry, Fagin hurriedly took off his shoe, only to find that his ankle was turning purple. It was already on the verge of swelling, and the slightest touch made Fagin wince in slight pain.

"That's just great. Sorry guys, looks like I'm out of business for a couple of days" Fagin said depressingly as he slouched in disappointment. Deety went and licked Fagin's hand, and Fagin rubbed Deety's fluffy ears. The atmosphere became rather sad, and silence overcame the dirty alleyway. "Well boys, I'm hittin' the hay." Fagin said as he yawned. They were all tired; the dogs had to run as fast as they could through heavy rush hour. New Yorkers don't care about mutts; they kicked the gang whenever they would bump into their legs. Deety, being pregnant, had a hard time running and kept on bumping into people. Fortunately, Dodger protected her and ate all the kicks the humans threw at him. A good 5 kicks landed in his ribs, however he showed no pain at all. As the dogs snuggled up against each other, Deety laid down in front of Dodger, who put his foreleg around her. "Dodge'?" she whispered.

"Yeah, babe?"

"Thank you for protecting me earlier."

"It's no problem, hun. I'm the _Dodge_', remember?"

Deety grinned. "Yeah, I remember. Good night, Dodger. I love you."

"I love you too, Deety."

She felt his breathing chest against her; even his breathing had a soft little rhythm to it. Deety smiled warmly at the thought of the cool-yet-kind dog that she was with. They were in the lowest of the low; if it weren't for Dodger's tactics and teachings on the ways of New York, they'd probably all be dead. It then hit Deety; the predicament they were all in. They were unhealthy mutts. Dodger's ribs were actually showing, for he always gave his food to Deety or someone else in the gang. Even when they would decline, he would insist. One day with Francis, Dodger insisted on him having half of a cheeseburger. After Francis consistently told Dodger to eat it, Dodger ended up leaving the burger right in front of him and walked away. Dodger's stubborn like that. He always was.

They already were barely getting around in life, and having puppies would only worsen that situation.

Deety could only pray that the future for her family would be a good one.

**Aaaaaaaaand Chapter 1! I hope you all enjoyed it! Any reviews would be greatly appreciated! And for those who are wondering; Yes, this is a prequel. I like prequels :D. All characters excluding Deety belong to Disney (but let's be real here, who really thinks I created this movie?).**


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